Trusting You, Trusting Me
by thisism3smiling
Summary: An argument about trust forces InuYasha to confront his past, insecurities, and a literal demon. {Inu/Kag}
1. Trusting You

**A/N: So, originally this story was a gift request for one of my very good friends who wanted something light and sweet and funny. I obliged, but it was very out of my comfort zone...so the first chapter is the one she wanted and the second is the one I wanted to write. An alternate version of the same prompt with a little bit of a kick to it ^_^**

 **Trusting You**

"I can't believe you're being such a jerk!" Kagome snapped, storming out of their shared hut. The straw mat covering the door slapped back with enough force to make InuYasha stumble when it hit him, but he recovered quickly and resumed stomping after his pregnant and pissed off wife. Red-faced, he pointed a claw accusingly at her.

" _I'm_ being a jerk?" he bellowed, drawing the attention of every nearby villager and, Kagome surmised, some in the neighboring two villages. At midday, nearly everyone was out and about either working, playing, or completing their daily chores—but all of that screeched to an obvious halt when she and her husband presented an entertaining distraction for the bored, tired, and overworked villagers.

InuYasha's eyes narrowed.

"I come home looking forward to seeing my wife after a long day of hunting our dinner, only to find her wrapped in another man's arms...and _I'm_ a jerk for getting mad?"

Kagome gasped, feeling her unborn son kick hard. ` _That's right,'_ InuYasha thought cockily, his gold-toned glare dropping down to the hand his wife smoothed over her belly. Even their pup agreed.

But his triumphant smirk fell off of his face when when in the blink of an eye Kagome—moving faster than a woman her size and in her condition should have been able to—appeared in front of him, raised high on swollen feet so that she and InuYasha stood nose-to-nose. Though he tried not to, he gulped when her narrowed blue eyes burned angrily into his.

"That's not what happened," she protested, looking ready to maul him. It amazed him how threatening she managed to make all five feet of her look in that moment. Wind whipped her loose black hair around her face and her hands curled tightly into fists. She looked furious, wild, and—InuYasha couldn't help thinking—so incredibly _sexy_. Fury darkened her usually sky-blue eyes to a stormy hue and brought rosy, flushed color to her cheeks. When she sighed, frustrated, InuYasha's eyes dropped down to her plump, kissable lips and he leaned into her, his anger dissipating so quickly it made him dizzy. She always seemed to have that effect on him. Light-headed and needing to hold onto something his arms went for Kagome and he almost fell when his wife stepped away from him.

"Oh no you don't. Not today, Satan," Kagome said through grit teeth. InuYasha's eyes widened and dropped down to where his wife's gaze slid. Only some of his blood rushed back to his head when he realized what happened, and that she'd been standing close enough to feel his arousal against her stomach. Embarrassment warmed his cheeks.

Kagome, giving no indication that his body's reaction to her fazed her, continued right where their arguing left off. "I wasn't with another man," she hissed, folding her arms across her chest. "I was with Kouga!"

And just like that, InuYasha's anger returned full force. Growling, he recalled finding Kagome in the hated wolf demon's embrace, her arms around his waist while Kouga grinned down at her. He wouldn't have thought much of the scene if not for the brilliant smile she'd beamed up at him. That soft of look of contentedness was one he _thought_ she reserved just for him, and seeing her look at another man that way killed him.

...but InuYasha knew better than to let her, or anyone, know they could affect him that way. Old habits die hard, and years of learning how to be hard-hearted and cold, and erecting walls to keep other people out kicked in effortlessly. InuYasha folded his arms across his chest to mirror Kagome's combative stance and rolled his eyes.

"Oh yeah, and that's supposed to make me feel better," InuYasha sneered, glaring at her. "Sorry. How wrong of me to get mad at you being all-fucking-over a man whose professed his love for you and called you his woman more times than I can count!"

"Lower your voice!" Kagome hissed.

InuYasha's eyes narrowed. He knew shouting their business to all of Edo was overkill, but he was past the point of caring. Three years ago, he might have let something like this go, but three years ago, Kagome wasn't his wife. She hadn't been carrying his pup then. Things were different now and he needed her to understand why this upset him as much as it had.

"I win this one, wench. You can't convince me you weren't doing something wrong."

"I wasn't," Kagome maintained through grit teeth. She scrubbed a hand over her face, feeling the beginnings of a migraine pulse beneath her brow. "I told you a million times, we were just talking."

"You were hugging!"

"We were saying goodbye! That's how friends say goodbye sometimes!"

InuYasha snorted and Kagome threw her hands up, frustrated. He was being so impossible! A lot had changed between them since coming back from their three year separation and the beginnings of their forever, but a lot still needed to change. She didn't understand the jealousy one bit.

"Don't you trust me?" she asked softly, the fight leaving her with that one, critical question. Kagome could tell him about the conversation she'd had with Kouga and easily put an end to their fight. When he'd come by, it was to gush about a girl within the village who he'd begun seeing, and Kagome had hugged him because she'd been so happy at his finally moving on. She wanted happy endings for everyone she'd come to love throughout her feudal adventures, Kouga most of all because he had fallen for her and she hadn't reciprocated. She'd been too head-over-heels for the bull-headed hanyou standing in front of her. But Kagome held back from explaining herself, because if InuYasha didn't trust her after everything they'd been through, then she saw no point in wasting her breath.

...and there would be no point in continuing their relationship. It physically pained her to think like that, but she knew she couldn't be with someone who didn't trust her, especially when she trusted him with everything. As if sensing his mother's turmoil, the child within her stopped moving, and the air between husband and wife became static with tension.

InuYasha's jaw ticked, and golden orbs that had been glaring so intensely cut away from Kagome. The stony silence seemed to stretch forever and, drained of what little energy she had left, Kagome sighed in defeat.

"Fine. You win. I got my answer, I guess. I'm going to Sango's."

She turned on her heel and began stomping away.

InuYasha's eyes widened. ` _What the hell just happened?'_

He'd been contemplating the right words to tell her he trusted her—because a simple 'yes' didn't capture how much or how intensely—and he realized too late what his silence might have been interpreted as. Scrambling to fix his error, he jogged after Kagome and managed to latch onto her arm.

"Kagome, _wait!_ "

She turned back to him, and floored InuYasha with the level of hurt he saw shimmering in her eyes. What had started out as a stupid argument somehow devolved into him hurting Kagome, more deeply than he was able to comprehend in that moment. In his stupor, he missed what Kagome had said before she shook her head disgustedly and wrenched her arm away from his. When he realized what happened too late again, she made it all the way to Sango's hut. The mat covering the door slapped soundly closed behind her.

InuYasha made to march in and explain, but the second his fingers made contact with the straw, angry priestess energy repelled him, the force of it knocking him flat on his back.

 _`She's really mad this time,'_ he concluded. _'Fuck.'_

. : .

Sango looked up from feeding her youngest. "What happened now?" she asked, curious—despite hearing parts of the argument outside of her hut. Kagome, without answering, procured an ofuda out of thin air and slapped it onto the straw mat doorway and Sango raised an eyebrow.

"That bad?"

Kagome gave her a falsely innocent look, but poorly disguised a smirk when they heard InuYasha yelp, followed by a sound not unlike the one he used to make after being "sat."

"I just needed some alone time," Kagome lied, sitting down by Sango's sleeping twin daughters. She smiled softly at them. In slumber, they were perfect little angels, but she knew what terrors they were while awake. Instinctively, she knew her own little one would be like that—especially with hers and InuYasha's combined fiery tempers.

"I don't believe you," Sango doubted.

"I'm fine, really."

"Uh huh." The slayer knew her best friend all too well. She rolled her eyes at the phony smile being shot her way. "You and InuYasha aren't fighting and my husband isn't a pervert."

"When did you get so sarcastic?" Kagome huffed.

Sango grinned in response. "Just tell me what happened. You know you want to."

. : .

"You know you want to," Miroku prodded, grinning slyly up into the branches of Goshinboku where his fuming best friend sat, doing his best to ignore the nosy monk. After coming home from a long day of pretending to exorcise nonexistent demons from temples, Miroku wasn't surprised to learn that InuYasha and Kagome had had yet another blow out. They had been having them all too frequently and the monk hardly batted an eye when the first villager he encountered stopped him to tell him the gossip. What did surprise him was that he hadn't been able to get into his own hut. Kagome had ofuda-locked herself and his wife and kids in. As Sango assured him that they were okay and talking, Miroku thought it best to work on InuYasha.

...and by "work," he meant tease mercilessly.

Miroku side-stepped the branch InuYasha threw down at him.

"Go away you annoying bastard," the hanyou fumed. Miroku barely stifled a chuckle when InuYasha moved from his perch, no doubt looking for something heavier and pointier to throw down.

"I'm only trying to help," he said, feigning wounded by dramatically fluttering a hand over his heart.

"I don't _need_ any help."

"Maybe just someone to talk to then?"

"Fuck no," InuYasha snorted, folding his arms over his chest.

"Come on," Miroku insisted. "I'm a great listener."

"And a big mouth! If I tell you what happened, then it won't be long before half the village hears about it."

Miroku raised an eyebrow, barely containing his smirk. "So something _did_ happen."

InuYasha's eyes widened. "No!" he said all too quickly. "Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing."

"Then why did your wife lock herself into my place? Really, InuYasha, I love her like a sister, but I've been traveling half the day and was so looking forward to seeing Sango. See, she promised me today that if I got home early enough, she'd do that thing with her tongue that—"

"Too much information, monk!" InuYasha bellowed, his cheeks bright pink. Miroku _did_ laugh this time, it being entirely too easy to rile his friend up. As an added perk, InuYasha usually resorted to talking more when he wanted to shut Miroku up.

"So what'd you do this time?" Miroku asked, pushing once again. InuYasha glared down from his perch in the tall, sacred tree before jumping down and getting in Miroku's face. " _I_ didn't do anything—and some monk you are. If you're that desperate to see Sango, why haven't you been able to get through?"

"She's gotten stronger. " the monk admitted. "The lock is so powerful I can't even break it."

"Whatever."

"So tell me, my friend..."

InuYasha stayed quiet. Miroku, familiar with the hanyou's stubborn attitude waited patiently for his frustration to win out. It eventually did, with InuYasha throwing his hands up and raging: "Why am I _always_ the bad guy?!"

Miroku tried to hide his amusement. It wasn't a particularly funny situation, but InuYasha was just too predictable for it to be helped. He shrugged. "I never said you were."

"You didn't have to," InuYasha grumbled. Miroku laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Then what did _she_ do, if you did nothing wrong?" he asked softly. InuYasha's eyes flashed with something like guilt and the grief-stricken look that crossed his face told the monk that InuYasha thought she'd actually done nothing and was blaming himself entirely for their fight. It confirmed his suspicion that it must've been a bad fight, and suddenly serious, he resolved to help. Before he could open his mouth, though, InuYasha raised worried eyes to his.

"She asked me if I trusted her."

. : .

"And he said _no_?!" Sango fumed, startling the twins from their nap. Kagome sighed, looking pointedly at her dramatic friend as she shushed the slayer's daughters back to sleep. Shaking her head and fighting the urge to cry at the memory of their argument, Kagome said: "No. InuYasha didn't say anything."

"...and I guess he doesn't have to," she said after a moment. Actions spoke louder than words, and his actions told her everything she never wanted to know. InuYasha didn't trust her, though she'd never given him any reason not to.

Sango, calming down, took a rational approach to the situation. "You know how he is. He gets mad and acts like an idiot. I'm sure he didn't mean to imply—"

"That doesn't make this hurt any less," Kagome admitted, curving a hand around her stomach. "I'm not in the wrong here, am I?"

Sango looked puzzled.

"...for talking to Kouga and hugging him before he left," she elaborated. "I mean, in my mind I wasn't doing anything wrong, but InuYasha got _so_ mad!"

Her best friend thought about it, then seemed hesitant, as if she were choosing her words carefully. Kagome was anxious for her response, not sure if she was going to like it or not.

"Well," Sango said after a long moment. "Things like that always piss him off."

Kagome waited for Sango to say more, but the slayer was staring expectantly at her, as if waiting for Kagome to come to whatever conclusion she had.

"I know that, Captain Obvious," Kagome said, stumped. "And...?"

Sango rolled her eyes. "And he gets mad when Houjo, Miroku, and pretty much any other male gets close to you."

"I'm not following," Kagome said guardedly, her eyes narrowing. "Are you saying I'm too flirty and it's my fault InuYasha doesn't trust me?"

"Not at all, sweetie," Sango said gently, grabbing her by the hand. She bit her lip, trying to think of some way to make her reasoning stick, when it hit her. The slayer grinned brightly.

"You've seen me slap Miroku upside his head thousands of times because he actually is a humongous flirt. Yet, I still trust him—with my life, my heart, my _everything_. If I didn't, I wouldn't let him wander off as much as he does into other villages for fake exorcisms, or want him anywhere near me. I'd be worrying about him cheating on me and leaving, but...I'm not."

Kagome looked even more confused. She'd always wondered if it bothered Sango that Miroku had yet to end his flirtations with other woman. In fact, it had only gotten worse since he'd married and settled down with Sango. Not one female in their village was safe from the hand the monk swore hadn't entirely been purged of it's "curse," and Sango being comfortable with it all surprised her.

Sango grinned deviously. "I think it turns him on to see me get so jealous. Hell, I even think he loves it when I slap him. One time, I stopped myself from hitting him and I swear I saw him angle his head towards me. Mmmm, and the sex we always have after—"

"Sango!" Kagome said, hoping to stop her. Her cheeks flushed pink and she looked around the hut. The slayer's three kids were sleeping, but Kagome still felt awkward talking about this. She could barely meet her best friend's eyes, shocked to hear her saying things like this.

"And I'd be lying if it didn't turn me on, too," Sango continued as if Kagome had never interrupted her. Her eyes glazed over with remembered pleasure. "Knowing that _my_ man always comes home to me at the end of the day is the ultimate aphrodisiac."

Kagome squired uncomfortably. "What does any of this have to do with InuYasha and I?"

The slayer shot her with a knowing look. "It doesn't turn you on, even a little bit, to see him still getting jealous over you? _He has you,_ and yet the thought of losing you to another man or anyone else having you drives him crazy."

The Miko thought back to their fight outside, remembering how hot InuYasha had gotten in the middle of it. Truthfully, she had gotten a little excited by their fighting, too, and stepping away from him when she'd felt his erection pressing hot and heavily against her took willpower he would've shattered had he touched her. She gulped. Maybe if he hadn't shouted out details of their personal life in a way that painted her to the entire village as a harlot, she would've taken him up on his body's invitation anyway. Feeling Sango's eyes on her, and heat spreading across her cheeks, she snapped out of her thoughts and faced Sango's smug look.

"No," she said quickly, only half-lying and beginning to worry her lip. "It doesn't. Jealousy in relationships isn't healthy."

Sango noticed Kagome's hands curving protectively around her belly and she rushed to make her friend feel better.

"Says who? InuYasha didn't hit or kill Kouga." And when she saw Kagome looking like she was beginning to understand, Sango pressed on. "I don't even think he feels threatened by him anymore. He just jumped on a reason to get worked up and turned that _sexy_ jealous energy on—see what I mean?!"

The slayer cut herself off, laughing at the anger that flashed in Kagome's eyes when Sango deliberately used the word 'sexy' to describe InuYasha. Her friend calmed when she realized Sango only meant to prove her point about jealousy being one way the couple showed affection for one another. Kagome sighed.

"You're right...I think," she murmured. Sango made at least a little bit of sense. InuYasha never really got violent when mad or jealous anymore, and most of their fighting culminated in the two of them locked inside of their hut until all hours of the night. Whatever energy he worked up getting mad or jealous, he burned on her, and Kagome never once doubted him loving or caring about her.

Sango mentally patted herself on the back. "...but I don't know. " Kagome added, her lingering doubts about InuYasha's _trust_ in her resurfacing. "He still didn't answer me when I asked if he trusted me, and that hurts. I don't like the idea of him not trusting me."

Sango shook her head, smiling.

"Don't worry about that. The two of you have forever to talk and work out your issues together. Forget about what's 'healthy' or 'dysfunctional' according to other people. Fix what doesn't work for you and remember everything that does work." The slayer grinned and placed a reassuring hand over Kagome's. She smiled and Sango felt relieved. Though sometimes InuYasha and Kagome could be wildly entertaining with their arguments, she hated how broken appeared when she'd stormed into her hut. It scared her to think that either of them could be having doubts about the other, and wished the two of them could see their relationship the way she and Miroku saw them: crazy, temperamental, but madly-in-love in a way that almost incited envy.

 _Almost._

When Sango thought about Miroku it sparked a flurry of excited feelings in her belly, and it still amazed her that after three kids and several years together, she still felt as happy as she did the first time he ever seriously asked her to bear his children. Though the lecher had his faults, she loved him fiercely and every day (sometimes multiple times daily!) Miroku made sure that his wife never doubted how much he loved her, too.

Suddenly, Sango saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She glanced out of the window of her hut and hid her giggles in a cough when she saw the man who'd been occupying her thoughts half-drag InuYasha after him, mischief glimmering in his violet eyes. Briefly, those eyes she loved met her gaze from across the village and he winked.

"I see InuYasha heading this way," Sango said, turning back to Kagome. "Are you going to go talk to him or make him sweat this out a little longer?"

Kagome sighed. "If he's still mad I don't know that I can handle another argument." Her eyebrows knit together. "I know I'll have to face him eventually, but...can I stay here a few more minutes? The baby keeps kicking me in the ribs and I'm just so—" she yawned "— _tired."_

"Of course you can," Sango said grinning just as mischievously as her husband had. She had a feeling things were about to take a turn for the entertaining and didn't want to give up her front row seat anyway.

. : .

"This is going to be fun."

"This is _stupid_ ," InuYasha disagreed, his teeth clenched and voice low. Miroku chuckled quietly at his friend before reminding:

"This will all be for nothing if you don't look more convincing. If Sango and Kagome look out the window now, they won't be seeing a very sorry looking hanyou...and you _are_ sorry, right?"

Miroku said the last part loudly, as the two were walking close enough to the monk's hut for the women inside to hear him. Sure enough, Sango peeked a head out and looked confusedly at them. He winked, then made to drag InuYasha after him.

"Now, just like we practiced..." he said under his breath.

Glaring, InuYasha said flatly and robotically, but loudly: "Of course I am, monk. I love Kagome."

"...aaand?" Miroku prompted. InuYasha shot him a murderous look, but peeked down at the kanji Miroku had scribbled on his palm.

" _And_ of course I thrust her too."

InuYasha nearly choked when he realized what he'd read wrong. He was going to _kill_ Miroku, who now was doubled over with laughter.

"TRUST. I _trust_ Kagome," he clarified.

"Well I would hope you thrust her, too," Miroku couldn't help teasing. InuYasha lunged at him but stopped when the mat to the monk's hut fluttered open. His heart skipped a beat.

"Wen—?"

"Nope," a frazzled looking Sango cut him off. Her trio of kids ran out behind her, three little balls of excited energy awake from a nap and ready to go outside and play. Thank _God_ Kagome dozed off when she had and that the ofuda didn't need her touch to remove it, nor did it lock them all in with her. The kids woke up just moments after the exhausted priestess fell out, and Sango quickly jumped to peel the ofuda-lock off. Regrettably, Kagome had slept through the _hilarious_ conversation Sango overheard the two men having.

"She's inside," the slayer said, smiling at InuYasha. The hanyou looked relieved and rushed past her.

"...but take her back to your place if you two are gonna work out your thrust issues."

InuYasha's jaw dropped.

"You're just as bad as Miroku!" he said, whispering so as not to disturb his wife's slumber. Miroku's eyes twinkled as he and Sango watched him gather Kagome into his arms.

"That's because Sango and I don't have any thrust issues. Right, my love?"

Sango giggled and the hanyou's ears burned with embarrassment. "Right. Take it from us, InuYasha. Thrust is an important part of most relationships. You'd better start learning how to thrust her if you don't already."

"He obviously thrusted her enough to get her pregnant," Miroku snorted. "But every day you should work on thrusting each other more and more and—"

"Oi! Ain't nothing wrong with the way Kagome and I thru—" InuYasha started to say before he stopped abruptly, refusing to play anymore into their teasing.

"I hate the both of you," he muttered, blushing hotly. He walked briskly past them, their laughter still ringing in his ears on the walk back to his own hut. He never should have _trusted_ Miroku or his chicken-scratch to get him through an apology he should've come up with himself. He deserved to look stupid and he thanked the Gods Kagome slept soundly throughout that spectacle.

InuYasha set her down on their shared futon and looked down at her, stunned by how beautiful and peaceful she looked sleeping. Her lips were slightly parted and her cheeks naturally flushed and rosy. He pressed a gentle kiss on her brow and heard his name sighed. Even while asleep she reacted to him, which made InuYasha warm all over.

"Every damn day I wonder what I did to deserve you," he murmured. He blushed, nervous even though Kagome wasn't awake to hear him voice his biggest fear and the root of his insecurities. His heart skipped a beat when after a moment, she stirred.

"InuYasha?" Kagome mumbled sleepily. Her eyelids fluttered open and she gazed blearily around her. "I'm home?"

He fought back a smile, not sure if Kagome was still mad about their fight—though he hoped she wasn't, because hearing her call this their home, no matter how many times she'd said it before, felt damn good in that moment.

"Yes, baby," he said, surprising both her and himself with how gently he'd said it. Kagome's lips stretched lazily into a smile. "We're home."

His hand trailed down to her belly when he said 'we,' and pride overwhelmed him. Their child kicked right into his palm and Kagome's hand floated down to cover his.

"I'm sorry," InuYasha said simply, moving to kiss Kagome's brow. If she was surprised at his apology, his wife didn't show it. She still looked half-asleep. "You okay?"

"Mmhmm," Kagome sighed contentedly, snuggling into InuYasha. "Apology accepted. I'm sorry, too."

InuYasha frowned, wondering if her half-asleep state was making her say stupid things. "You've got nothing to be sorry for. I'm the one who fucked up for letting you think I didn't trust you. I'm _always_ the one who fucks up, and Kagome, you—"

"—have things I need to work on, too," Kagome cut him off, surprising InuYasha with how awake she suddenly appeared. Her blue eyes gazed intensely into his. "Really, InuYasha. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I shouldn't have run away. I forgive you and it's okay. We're okay."

InuYasha wanted to let it go, but he felt guiltier with every word she said. For the millionth time he wondered why the Gods had thought him worthy of her.

"It's not okay. Why do you keep forgiving me so easily all the time?"

"Because I love you, dummy."

"But I keep messing up. I keep making you cry and storm off. I'm not wor—"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence," she said firmly. Kagome's gaze softened and she curved a hand around his cheek.

"InuYasha, when I came back here it was for all of you: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We fight—that's nothing new. Then, we make up. That's how _this—"_ she squeezed the hand that rested over her stomach, "happened. What we have isn't perfect, but I'm perfectly happy that I'm with you. I regret nothing."

"Wench..."

"Yes, InuYasha?"

"I love you, too, and I _do_ trust you. I swear to both you and our son that I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you always trust me and never have regrets."

"Okay," Kagome said, happy tears shimmering in her eyes. She leaned in and kissed him before adding:

"It's good to know you really do trust me, but I like that you thrust me, too."

InuYasha pulled back, hardly believing what he'd just heard. His wife looked more mischievous than Miroku or Sango combined. It floored him that the sneaky wench had been awake and feigning sleep the entire time!

" _You heard that?!"_


	2. Trusting Me

"Woman! I'm not finished with you," InuYasha bellowed. He stomped out of his hut, red-faced and angry at Kagome for walking away from him in the middle of an argument. Kagome, waddling some, but moving impressively fast for being eight-months pregnant shot a scathing look over her shoulder at InuYasha, and it almost— _almost—_ stopped her husband in his tracks. Knowing she intended to take refuge in Sango's hut and wanting to finish what they started before she Ofuda-locked herself in and refused to leave until he forgot his reasons for being mad at her, he sped up.

"Oi! Slow down. Just turn around and talk to me!"

"Why?" Kagome stopped, shoving a finger in his face. "So you can keep yelling and throwing your ridiculous accusations at me some more? I don't think so."

She turned away, whipping him in the face with her long, ink-black hair. InuYasha's hands balled into fists. "How are they ridiculous?' he demanded. "I saw what I saw."

"And made a big deal out of nothing," Kagome shot over her shoulder.

"Didn't look like nothing to me."

"We were talking."

"His hands were all over you!"

"While he hugged me goodbye!" she screeched, turning back around to face him.

The Miko threw her hands up, frustrated. "You're impossible, and I don't know why I keep trying to explain myself to you. You're making my blood pressure go up and—"

"Your what?" InuYasha asked, looking puzzled. Kagome rolled her eyes, constantly forgetting whenever she used modern-day terms that her husband wouldn't know what she was talking about. Taking a deep breath, and silently praying for patience, Kagome said through grit teeth: "You're stressing me out."

"Fine," InuYasha said folding his arms across his chest and looking at Kagome in a way that made her immediately suspicious. "I'll stop."

"Fine," she said cautiously. "Thank you."

"...Just tell me what the hell you and that idiot wolf were talking about right before I walked in."

Kagome exploded. Of course InuYasha backing down from a fight was too good to be true. _Of course._ "No, you should trust me!"

Her husband snorted. "Please," he dismissed. "I ain't stupid."

Kagome looked at him, incredulous. "Really? You don't trust me? Even though I've never once given you any reason not to—"

She cut herself off abruptly, schooling her expression into the textbook definition of calm, cool, and collected. Without a word, Kagome turned on her heel and marched away from a confused InuYasha.

"Wait...wench? Where the hell do you think you're going?" InuYasha asked cautiously.

She didn't answer him, walking briskly away.

"Kagome? Oi, I'm not fini—iiugh," he shuddered when the look she shot him sent fear racing up and down his spine. Taking advantage of his momentary shock, Kagome sprinted the rest of the way to Miroku and Sango's hut, the mat covering the entrance slapping soundly behind her. InuYasha was livid.

"That's not playing fair at all!" He said, stomping over. "Oi! Come back out here and finish arguing with me, woman!"

He made to tear through the straw mat, but it zapped him. He cringed away from the hut, knowing his wife had slapped a demon-repelling ofuda on it, and though Sango and her family were inside there with her, Kagome was stubborn enough to lock them all in there for hours until one of them cooled off.

"Fine," he muttered. "Be like that."

He stomped away, looking back once and raising an eyebrow. "And don't think I don't know you were the one who taught her that trick, monk!" InuYasha snapped. Miroku ducked away from the window, but not before the hanyou caught his sheepish grin. "Traitor!"

. : .

When an hour passed with no sign of Kagome coming out of the ofuda-sealed hut, InuYasha got sick of menacing the unfortunate villagers he came across and pacing his empty hut. He decided to take his anger out on the one person who really did deserve it: _Kouga._ Just thinking about what the wolf did to set him off boiled his blood. He hated seeing him around and lately, all the mutt did was sniff around his Kagome. Though his wife never gave him any reason to doubt her before, the snippets of conversation he'd heard them having before he walked into his hut set him on edge.

" _Oh, Kouga, I love it! Thank you so much. You're so sweet."_

" _Heh. Anything for you."_

"Not what it looked like, my ass."

Finally, his anger and jealousy boiled to a point where he impulsively decided that, if Kagome wasn't going to speak to him, he'd beat the answers he wanted out of Kouga. Since the wolf had run off so fast, he hadn't gotten the chance to properly confront him, anyway.

The wolf wasn't too hard to find, as lately he and the members of his growing tribe had taken to camping outside of InuYasha's home village. Sure enough, he smelled wolf nearby and approached, plowing through his pitiful goons, Ginta and Hakkaku, to get to him. Kouga didn't seem surprised by his presence and looked up, bored.

"What were you and Kagome talking about behind my back?" InuYasha demanded.

Kouga folded his arms across his chest, a slow grin spreading across his face. Further enraging InuYasha, the wolf-demon was _blushing_. "None of your fucking business."

"Like hell it isn't," InuYasha raged. He felt about ready to kill the annoying wolf. "I don't like you sniffing around her when I'm not around. She's not _your_ woman, wolf shit. She's mine, so back off."

Kouga raised an eyebrow, then began casually examining his nails. "Keep acting the way you do, and Kagome won't _be_ your woman for much longer."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

InuYasha felt the vein on his temple twitch, but he waited for Kouga's response. The wolf enjoyed making him wait for it, opening his mouth as if he were about to say something and then closing it again. When finally, he leaning toward InuYasha as if he were telling him some big secret, Kouga smirked.

"You'll figure it out," he shrugged. "Hopefully."

InuYasha's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Bastard!" He lunged. "I will kill you. If you think you're ever going to take my place as Kagome's— _aaargh!_ " he yelled, as Kouga cut him off with a hard bop on the noise and made his escape.

InuYasha glared hatefully at the wolf's retreating form, rubbing his hurt noise and not even bothering to try to catch up with the rival. It would have been pointless, because even without those damn shards in his legs, Kouga still ran fast enough to make him eat dirt.

. : .

Frustrated, tired, and drained of any fight he had left in him, InuYasha made his way back home, detouring through an unfamiliar forest to think up a way to make up with Kagome. Their fight, as always, was silly and stupid and he really didn't have it in him to push her away any further, sure that the stress he put on her most days wasn't good for their unborn pup.

"I'm an idiot," he muttered to himself, thinking back to her hurt expression when he implied that he didn't trust her. Of course he trusted her! The one he didn't trust was that damned annoying wolf.

Then again, when he really thought about it, Kagome had been right. Though Kouga had been around a lot lately, InuYasha couldn't recall the last time he'd heard him call Kagome his woman. While he still didn't completely trust the wolf, he knew that maybe he _had_ jumped to conclusions.

Ultimately, it came down to his insecurities: he grew up not being able to trust anyone and sometimes felt that the life he led now could disappear at any moment. Waking up next to Kagome and feeling his pup kick into his hand always felt too good to be true. What had he done to deserve such a wonderful life? Such a wonderful _woman_?

InuYasha sighed and realized for the first time how drained of energy he felt. His legs felt heavier with every step he took until finally, he collapsed. When he laid a hand on the ground to try and lift himself up again, he noticed something strange:

His fingernails, _blunted._

...but that only happened on the night of a new moon, and that had been days ago. Grabbing a handful of his own hair, he almost wasn't surprised to find the silver strands slowly turning black. It both surprised and confused him, until he registered his strange surroundings.

Thick clouds of pearly, opalescent smoke crept up and swirled around him. The scenario struck him as an oddly familiar one, but InuYasha was too dazed and confused to think clearly on what this meant other than that it had to be the work of some demon.

A demon he would have smelled had it not dulled his hanyou senses first.

"Damn it," he muttered, searching for any way out of this situation. The forest seemed to close in around him, dark and menacing. His head swam.

"W-what's going on?" he muttered. "Where the hell am I?"

His question had been rhetorical, but the forest answered anyway:

"You're where dreams go to die."

. : .

"...and where you will die," it hissed. "After I'm done playing with you of course."

Footsteps. Whatever was doing this he heard approaching slowly, each of it's steps calculated to leave him dreading it's appearance. Finally, a dark boot broke through the fog, mere feet in front of InuYasha. He traced the boot up to the tall, familiar looking demon.

"I've met you," he said, trying to place the blue and red-markings. Pale green hair slicked back into a ponytail. "Where?"

The demon smirked. "No," it said softly, it's head twitching to the side. InuYasha could barely move enough to avoid the silk strands that shot at him, wrapping tightly around his wrists and ankles. "We haven't met. Not formally."

"Then who the _fuck_ are you?" InuYasha demanded. He struggled against the silk binds suspending him between two trees, which left him splayed open for the unfamiliar demon to do whatever it wanted to him. His trappings burned his wrists and ankles and the more he struggled, the tighter and more painful they got. "Why are you doing this?"

The demon walked up to him and ran a long, pointed fingernail down the side of his face, streaking red in it's wake. InuYasha tried not to show pain or fear, but it burned acidly.

"I'm someone whose been watching you for a very long time," it hissed. "Someone who's been waiting for you to fall into my trap."

"Why?"

"Because you killed my brothers, hanyou."

"Oh?" InuYasha thought hard about which demons he'd killed recently. None but a few lesser demons came to mind. The last powerful one had been Naraku, and as far as he knew (hoped, really), there weren't any more of him around. Baiting the demon with the hopes that doing so would get him to loosen his bindings, InuYasha spat: "I'm sure they deserved whatever they got."

"Filthy half-breed," the demon raged., belting him with a whip made of silk. "I'm going to enjoy killing you slowly. But first...allow me to show you what _you_ deserve."

"What the hell are you— _aaargh!_ "

It only hit him before the demon knocked him out that he knew where he was:

` _Where dreams go to die,'_ InuYasha recalled bitterly.

` _I'm in the forest of sorrows.'_

. : .

. : .

Cautiously, he opened his eyes, then patted his body for any injuries. The demon that had tied him up was gone and there was someone approaching. Someone small and silver-haired, who he instantly and instinctively knew belonged to him. His suspicions were confirmed when the boy looked up at him, then _through_ him with bright, golden eyes.

"Mommy," the little boy frowned. "Where's daddy?"

InuYasha gasped when Kagome appeared behind him. She looked older than what she should have been, considering their son only looked about four years old. Her sallow skin looked slightly gray-tinged and dark circles signaling lack of sleep scalloped her under-eyes. Sighing tiredly, the shadow of his beloved bent down to meet her son at eye-level, where dimmed blue gazed sadly into the boy's bright gold.

"He never came home, sweetie," she said softly, stroking his long dark hair. "We had a fight, and he just left us. Like we meant nothing to him."

" _No. I didn't,"_ InuYasha screamed, his fingers slipping through the boy when he tried reaching out. _"I'm right here! I never left! I came back!"_

The boy's face crumpled. He couldn't hear him. "Why? Did he find a new family? Did he stop loving us?"

" _NEVER. I—"_

The boy suddenly giggled as two arms wrapped around him from behind to toss him in the air. When he fell back down, it was into Kouga's arms. Everything about the scene brightened, including Kagome's saddened face. He watched her look on adoringly as Kouga ruffled his son's hair.

"Forget about him runt," the wolf smirked. "You've got me now. I'll be your Dad."

"Oh Kouga," Kagome crooned, sidling up to him. Her face became sharp-angled and grotesque. Malice didn't look natural shaping her usually kind features, and neither did the sickly sweet smile quirking her lips upward. She ran a hand down the wolf's broad chest and gazed up at him adoringly. "You're so good to us."

Her gaze then darted towards InuYasha, and looking directly at him in a way that told him she could see and hear him she purred, "You're a better husband to me than he ever was."

…

"No," InuYasha whispered, as his pup ran off, leaving the warped-looking Kagome and Kouga alone. His next, much louder protest Kagome drowned out with breathy moans as Kouga drew her up against him and began pawing at her, all out in the open and while the she still looked at InuYasha with ice cold eyes.

"Damn right I'm a better husband," Kouga grunted, and InuYasha's blood boiled when the wolf's claws tore at his wife's skirts in his rushed attempt to hike them up. Kagome giggled, and the sound felt like a knife-wound to the chest, sounding nothing like her usually melodious laughter. The two became his worst nightmare brought to life, Kagome urging Kouga to touch and kiss her harder and the wolf complying.

When she started sighing Kouga's name InuYasha finally lost it. "Get—your hands—off of her!" he roared, charging from his spot. He ran at Kouga, who at the last second shoved Kagome in front of him. Momentum prevented him from stopping, and InuYasha screamed when his no-longer human hand cut through her.

"Why, InuYasha?" Kagome whispered, only before him her face morphed into Kikyou's. Horrified, he withdrew his arm from her. He had claws again, and they should've been covered in blood, but they weren't.

"W-what?"

"I said, _DIE InuYasha!"_

Kikyou smirked, knocking back an arrow and aiming directly for his heart.

"And this time," she promised. "You won't wake up."

He resigned himself to the arrow, and was hit with a punch instead.

"-should have never been born," Sesshomaru snarled, swiping at him with his green-tipped claws. "Should have never received Father's legacy!"

" _This is what you deserve,"_ the demon from earlier echoed, and too weak to move, InuYasha fell forward. Kagome leaving him, Kikyou killing him, and Sesshomaru hating him...all of his nightmares and insecurities were being used as weapons against him and the demon that ensnared him was _winning._

"Pathetic," Sesshomaru whispered, delivering a kick to his ribs that made his world go blissfully, beautifully black.

.:.

.:.

"He's not dead yet," InuYasha heard someone murmur. He groaned awake, his body sore and burning all over. A light, bright white and overwhelming lit the area around him, obscuring the face of whoever happened to be leaning over him, concerned and checking his vitals. Friend or foe, InuYasha found that he just didn't care anymore.

"C'mon," the vaguely familiar voice urged. "Get up, InuYasha. Fight!"

"Oh for Christ's sake," someone else growled. InuYasha squinted as another figure came into view, shoving the first guy aside. Then his eyes popped open completely and he barely contained a scream as the second person's foot slammed into his abdomen. Several times. Kicks punctuated the man's next couple of words. "Get—the fuck— _up_!"

"Easy! That's not how you—"

"It worked didn't it?"

"I must be fucking dead," InuYasha groaned. He looked up at the two males before him. One's features mirrored his own, save for the reddened pupils and purple, jagged lines striping his cheeks. The other was him but with darker hair and his mother's violet eyes.

"What are...how are...You two? But how—if you're... _me_?"

"Don't insult me," his demon doppelganger snarled. "This guy might share some of the pathetic parts of you that got you where you are now, but I am _not_ you, and you'll never be me. Ever."

"I don't want to be you," he coughed, blood spackling the sleeve he'd used to cover his mouth. "Not anymore. I want to be—"

"Like him, then? Pathetic? Weak? _Human_?"

"No, but there's nothing wrong with him—me. I am who I want to be right now. A hanyou."

"Well, hanyou," the demon laughed. "You're not looking too good right now. A demon like me got to you and he's going to kill you."

' _I'm already dying. I feel it.'_

"Is that why we're here? Why I can see you right now?"

' _Am I dead? Is this the end?'_

His human self smirked at him. "I don't know, InuYasha. _Is it_?"

He balled his hands into fists. Tears pricked at his eyes as happier memories flashed through his mind. They weren't gray and dark and grotesque like the ones the forest demon had showed him, but colorful and filled with love and warmth.

"No," he protested weakly. "It can't be. I can't go. Not now. Not when I have a family who needs me. Kagome, the pup, my—"

Demon InuYasha charged at him, and before hanyou InuYasha's eyes opened to see that he'd been trapped in a silken cocoon the whole time, he heard the two halves of him yell:

"Then fucking fight back, you idiot!"

.:.

.:.

Miles away, in Kagome and InuYasha's still-empty hut, the Tessaiga flew out of it's scabbard.

.:.

.:.

With renewed energy and Tessaiga in his hands, InuYasha overcame the moth-demon and slammed him against a tree. Sword pressed into its throat, he glared angrily into it's eyes. He remembered now. Two older demons just like him entrapped him in this forest. Now their younger brother had grown and tried for vengeance.

"We can end this here," InuYasha said, gesturing at the ground where he would metaphorically throw his sword if the Demon chose to let things end peacefully. "Or we can end this here."

He flipped Tessaiga over so that the sharp edge pressed just painfully enough into the demon's throat.

The moth-demon squirmed.

"Your brothers didn't leave me any choice and I'm not sorry for killing them. They hurt innocent people, and tried to hurt my friends. Do you have people who you care about so much that you would kill for them if you had to?"

InuYasha thought about Kagome and his unborn child. He didn't want his son to someday fight this battle, to grow to hate someone as much as this demon hated him. The cycle of violence had to end somewhere or it would only beget more violence.

"T-two boys," the demon croaked weakly. "And a girl. I'm all they h-have."

"Then go home to them," InuYasha said, lightening the pressure of his sword against the demon's throat. "All I want right now is to go home to mine."

.:.

After rinsing off the day in a nearby hot spring, InuYasha's whole body melted into the warmth of his wife. At some point, she returned to their hut and had fallen asleep waiting for him. In the morning, he'd have to answer for the bruises on his body, and the cuts he'd received in the forest. But for now, he needed this. Needed _her_ more than he ever needed anything.

' _I almost didn't make it home to you. I would've died with you thinking I didn't trust you.'_

Kagome, half-asleep, turned towards him.

"Where'd you go?" she mumbled. "You were gone all night."

He sighed, brushing a hand over her belly. Pride overwhelmed him when his son kicked into him and Kagome's lips stretched lazily into a smile. Her hand drifted down to cover his and he kissed her brow.

"I'm sorry. It's a really long story. I'll tell you later on."

"You okay?"

He hated that earlier, he had been the cause of the tears now dried on her cheeks. Hated that it happened all too often.

"Yes. Better now that I'm home."

"Yeah," she said softly. "I'm sorry."

" _You're_ sorry?" He frowned. She snuggled into him.

"Or I forgive you. I don't know. I'm tired and I love you, dummy."

"But I keep messing up. I keep making you cry."

"InuYasha," her eyes popped open. They gazed adoringly at him, and he vowed to spend his whole trying to be worthy of that look. "When I came back here it was for all of you: the good, the bad, and the ugly. We fight—that's nothing new. Then, we make up. That's how _this—"_ she squeezed the hand that rested over her stomach, "happened. What we have isn't perfect, but I'm perfectly happy that I'm with you. I regret nothing."

"Wench..."

"Yes, InuYasha?"

"I trust you. I want you to know that. And I love you, too."


End file.
